Leo box office advance sales day 1: Vijay-starrer amasses Rs 34 crore, surpasses Rajinikanth’s Jailer by a huge margin

Numbers for the Malayalam dubbed release haven’t yet been shared, although Leo is expected to deliver a record opening in the Kerala region, challenging even the local hits. Leo is getting only a token release in the Hindi market, where it has done negligible advance sales of only around Rs 32 lakh so far. In fact, tickets worth a combined Rs 24 lakh have been sold in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai region for the Tamil-language release itself. Only Rs 3 lakh worth of advance tickets have been sold in the same regions for the Hindi version.

Does Leo have what it takes to become a true crossover hit? After the performance of Vijay’s last film Varisu in north India, it looks unlikely. The actor maintains a strong foothold on home turf, strong enough to challenge Rajinikanth, but not across India. By comparison, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan was able to do business worth Rs 60 crore in the Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions, while last year’s Telugu and Kannada blockbusters RRR, KGF: Chapter 2 and Kantara made massive amounts of money in the north as well.

Leo is said to be a part of Lokesh Kanagaraj’s shared universe of films, which also includes Kaithi and last year’s Vikram. While Leo’s ties to the franchise haven’t been confirmed yet, fans are eager to see how Lokesh will continue his cinematic universe with the involvement of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars. He’s slated to work with Rajinikanth next.